Cartoon Network Abruptly Pulls DC Nation From October Lineup

Fans of the DC Nation programming block lit up Twitter this morning after discovering that Cartoon Network has unexpectedly pulled Young Justice and Green Lantern: The Animated Series from the remainder of its October schedule. New episodes had begun airing just two weeks ago.

Green Lantern producer Giancarlo Volpe explained that, “Apparently Cartoon Network preempted it in celebration of their 20th birthday. Their logic, not mine. I am very disappointed. […] Preempted means they replaced it (hopefully only temporarily) with How to Train Your Dragon.”

Volpe was just as surprised by the move as everyone else, writing, “I am hoping they’ll be back in two weeks. But nobody knows for sure. ”

Disappointed fans also began peppering the DC Nation Facebook page with criticism, with one person suggesting “Cartoon Network executives” in response to a poll question about “your favorite super-villain.” The network has yet to release an official statement, but when it does, it may have to explain the decision to this face:

DC Nation debuted on Cartoon Network in March, anchored by Green Lantern: The Animated Series and Young Justice, and featured well-received animated shorts starring Batman, Teen Titans, Animal Man, Amethyst, Plastic Man and other DC Comics characters. Full-length series Beware the Batman and Teen Titans Go! will join the lineup next year.

UPDATE (1:45 PT): Cartoon Network has announced on Twitter, “Hey #DCNation fans! Have you heard?? DC Nation will return in January with all new episodes!”

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Comments

Xaos

Hmm, I remember them doing this during what ended up being the last season of Justice League, I think. The show was pulled from the schedule somethng like a day or two before it was supposed to return from hiatus and took 6-8 months to actually air.

Paul

What a bummer! I’ll miss GL:TAS. Hopefully it’ll be back.

Xaos

Also, not for nothing, but did Cartoon Network’s 20th anniversary take them by surprise? Like, it seems as though an anniversary is a fairly predictable event.

http://www.cogonline.net Digital Jedi

This is why I watch shows months later, online. All of this essentially becomes meaningless, when you’ve got a backed up queue.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Norris/549202608 Bill Norris

this sucks, im recording at home for nothing now….was gonna watch after work. this really sucks.

Guest

Outrage!

Bronzetiger

DC Nation and Robot Chicken are the only reasons I watch CN, I won’t watch it at all if they don’t fix their error. Happy Anniversary! Hope you choke.

Lizziemackenzie

As long as Batman and TT Go aren’t in place of….

http://twitter.com/PopCultureOtaku Richie Simonsen

This is why cartoon network sucks. Their logic and though process makes no sense. Why not have it part celebration. This is just another example of why cartoon network is in trouble.

http://www.facebook.com/swingblade808 Micah Cartajena

for canceling dc nation… i give you this one warning… beware my wrath

syvyn11

Don’t watch Adventure Time, Almost Naked Animals, The Annoying Lemon, Total Drama, The Clone Wars or much anything else except DC Nation and Toonami. FIX THIS NOW CARTOON NETWORK!

Jello dude

Cartoon network has been run by idiots’ for the last 8 years. They never keep a programming schedule in place for long, fail to promote when a show has new episodes, canceling shows that are actually getting good ratings and the list goes on.

Yddegauthier

At the very least cartoon network should air the episode on the site tout suite!

MrFreezeRhino

Thanks Cartoon Network for this wonderful surprise! As a gift to you the millions of viewers who would have watched DC Nation are now going to watch something else during that time slot.

Happy Birthday.

beane2099

I was cheesed off this morning too, but I didn’t realize it was causing this much of a stir. It was a dick move. How is “How to Train Your Dragon” any more representative of Cartoon Network’s 20th Anniversary than DC Nation?

schen

Hey guys, Cartoonnetwork’s twitter just said DCNation is coming back in January. Who else wants to burn CN headquarters with me.

http://www.facebook.com/gary.d.anderson Gary Anderson

This sucks!!!

http://www.captainmeow.com/ JP Lallos

I hope Canada or Australia continue airing at least Young Justice so I can just download the episodes. Waiting until January for what should be airing now is ridiculous. They probably did this because DC Nation wasn’t working as a Saturday morning block. They never should’ve blown up their Friday Night Action Block, and they never should’ve given Adult Swim the 9PM hour.

Paul

What a stupid move!!

Paul

What a stupid move!!

Olaorun

I Think there is more to the story…doth DC and CN are owned by Warner Bros. The 20th anniversary bull is a smoke screen. It is a programming change fine and you adding more to it and want to have a bigger lineup and include GL and YJ with it fine…no problem but don’t sell us a canoe when we wanted a yacht.

Savas715

what’s the real story here?! This excuse seems like BS.

http://twitter.com/annericelover Eric

The big problem with network TV is because 95% of shows are released on DVD, they expect you to buy the sets and no longer have reruns. I mean I had to illegally download episodes of Batman: The Brave & the Bold, just to catch up current airings cause they never air reruns. This move will have ramifications on the network and possibly the shows, with no airings of the shows for 3 months and no reruns people will forget about the shows and won’t bother tuning in when it does returns, for viewers like me who ONLY tune in during that hour only my DVR will remind me that the show is on and that is IF it comes back at the same time

http://www.captainmeow.com/ JP Lallos

Either it wasn’t performing well on Saturday mornings or they want to stop while they still have plenty of YJ and GL left so they can add the new Batman and Teen Titans show and make the block bigger.

Or its just Cartoon Network devolving into another Nickelodeon and Disney Channel, where they’ll air 1 or 2 episodes of a show and then stop it for weeks or months before airing a new one. Seriously one of the worst ways to program a network.

http://www.facebook.com/GatesTheComic Hal Hefner

screw these guys. It looks like their execs have learned nothing about how to treat your fans in their twenty years of existence. Cartoon Network really screwed the pooch on this move. Terrible.

Forget Cartoon Network – Just post those Young Justice episodes on Amazon.com. I’ll gladly pay $2 a episode and skip the commercials.

Xaos

Which is a Time Warner compant

Clements_01

Telling someone they can’t watch their favourite shows for another three months isn’t a consolation, it’s a battle cry. Against insane CN executives.

For that matter, what the hell happened to Thundercats?

Warhawk871

guess cartoon network doesnt have their new batman animated sseries ready yet, hence the push back of both dc nation shows til jan. looks like the only show ill look fwd to on sat now is clone wars season 5

Renz Cortes

why didnt they take thundercats, how to train your dragon, and star wars off the schedule if they want to be so loyal to their 20th anniversary?

Thundercats hasn’t been on in a LONG time. It is pretty much canceled. Star Wars they can’t touch because of George Lucas. They can’t spread one season of that over 2 or 3 calendar years like like they can other shows.

Mr. Martian

I’m still pissed!!!

http://twitter.com/TheDarkDiaries TheDarkDiaries

I’m still pissed!!!

Princess of Paradise Island

You never come between a geek and their comics. CN, you guys f**ked up big!!! Really?!?! You guys lost like three months worth of ratings. This is how you lose your audience. For what?! Are you guys dump or just plain stupid?!

http://twitter.com/brunoshort Jenn

Maybe he’s a bad husband like that. ;)

http://www.facebook.com/brandonjoseph2011 Brandon Joseph

Cartoon network can be such dumbasses I knew they would find away to miss things up. I really hope another network gets the shows so I don’t have to watch that channel anymore

http://twitter.com/EliasAlgorithm Elias Algorithm

Hotel Transylvania must be doing REALLY well to upset CN this much, but why take it out on us? Because DC viewers tend to side with Tartakovsky?

No

Oh look… [Cartoon Network has announced on Twitter, “Hey #DCNation fans! Have you heard?? DC Nation will return in January with all new episodes!”]

And that’s supposed to make it all better? Really? Somehow I don’t think so…

Green Lantern

JANUARY?

You guys are jerks, Cartoon Network.

jrau18

JANUARY!?

Erik Business1234

Wow talk about FUBAR! Now I have to wait time 2013 to get a new episodes of Young Justice and Green Lantern! This is absurd! IMO Warner/DC should see this as an opportunity to start their own channel with DC Action Block, Looney Tunes and their vast selection of movies plus some additional new intellectual properties! I for one would love to see warner villians show where you could see the like of Dr. Sivana, Lex Luthor and Pinky & The Brain team up or go against each other to take over the World.

http://khiaao.blogspot.com/ Khiaao

No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chosenwriter513

If you have a season pass for iTunes you can download the episodes that were supposed to air yesterday. I’m not sure if it’s available to everyone, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t be. I also doubt it will work that way next week, but at least we can watch what we missed so abruptly yesterday morning.

Rcruz61

My thoughts on the whole DC Nation and CN fiasco? Imagine you’re in charge. It’s the 20th anniversary celebration of Cartoon Network. The one you run. And you make a decision – for whatever reason- that preempts two shows that have a rabid, if not loyal following. Good shows; that can stand easily shoulder to shoulder with any live-action program. A decision again, for whatever reason, that led to the constant echoing of fans saying, “CN SUCKS!” ON. THE. CABLE. CHANNEL’S. ANNIVERSARY.Without a doubt, it sucks to be YOU.

Loved the movie, but the How to Train Your Dragon show sucks…..bring back DC Nation.

ATK

What i find really upsetting is that I’m not really surprised with this move. Since Young Justice premiered it has had the worst scheduling of any show I have ever seen. We have had new episodes of Red Dwarf before new Young Justice. Just to put it in perspective here are the gaps in airing for YJ since it’s premiere on Nov. 26, 2010. 7 eps aired from 1/21/2011 thru 3/11. 7 ep air from 9/16 thru 11/18 break until 2012, 18 eps air from 3/3 thru 6/9 including the seamless gap between seasons 1 & 2 and now 2 ep air in oct and a hiatus until Janurary. I know we live in the age of the dvr but we also live in the age of the smartphone, facebook, and a million other ways they could have provided a programming schedule to viewers to avoid dissapointments like this. This being said I was Blindsided by the new Lego Star Wars Special, confused as hell as to when HTTYD would air, also you remained the show, makes it harder for people to identify outside of commercials. Adult swim in pretty weird with their production scheduling but at least they have a air date schedule online that they stick to.

http://www.facebook.com/david.schmitt#!/ David R. Schmitt

Both the latest eps of Young Justice and Green Lantern can be seen online, a small glimmer of light in that dark tunnel. YJ was really, really good.

Liebevision

So, the likely reason, Young Justice features characters DC LOST THE RIGHTS TO. These are the Milehouse characters, such as Static, Icon, and Rocket.

Liebevision

So, the likely reason, Young Justice features characters DC LOST THE RIGHTS TO. These are the Milehouse characters, such as Static, Icon, and Rocket.

enemyisyou

My 5 year old son has been asking all summer when Green Lantern (and Thundercats) would be on again, and then it finally was (with the exception of Thundercats – another jerk move since that show was phenomenal) and he was so excited. Then I go to watch my recorded episodes from Saturday with him yesterday, and they’re both How To Train Your Dragon. Nice trick, CN – you don’t tell the cable/satellite providers that you’re changing the shows, so they still show up as YJ and GL in the guide; yet you’re showing HTTYD and that’s what is ACTUALLY recorded. And then when you finally address the windfall of your decision to pull the shows, you’ll say “While we realize that Young Justice and Green Lantern have loyal followings, our numbers indicate that How To Train Your Dragon has actually performed well during the haitus.” Yes, because you deliberately tricked DVR’s into tuning in to the network during the time when the other shows SHOULD be playing!!

RunnerX13

January!? Why did they even bother starting a
new season? CN’s hostility towards DC products has reached an all-time
high. It’s time for Johns to have a sit-down with CN’s execs.

RunnerX13

Surprised in that the anniversary affected DC Nation. The explanation still doesn’t make sense as nothing else was affected.

RunnerX13

Source? Static has never appeared on the show, and I don’t think Icon not Rocket has appeared this season.

RunnerX13

But that’s not the issue here.

AnonymousMC

The new episodes will be on Itunes, I believe. Just caught the most recent episode on youtube.

Black Cesar

Johns has no power over CN. If he has a sit down with them, they’ll listen to what he has to say pat him on the back and give him a t shirt and say “have a nice day and don’t forget to watch Regular Show”

Black Cesar

Uh, Warner already owns CN.

Boycott Turner

An open call to action to anyone infuriated by Cartoon
Network’s recent decision to pull DC Nation.
Below is an email I sent to Cartoon Network. The short version of it is this; I
refuse to watch any of Turner Broadcasting’s networks, until DC Nation is back
on the air.

I encourage anyone to copy and edit my letter, or make one yourself, and send
it to Cartoon Network. More importantly, I urge you to join my boycott.
Together, we can show this broadcasting giant that they need us more than we
need them. Thank you.

Dear Cartoon Network,

I was sorely disappointed this past
Saturday to see that the new episodes of Young Justice and Green Lantern The
Animated Series did not air as scheduled. This schedule had been set more than
two weeks in advance and still appeared to be in effect less than eight hours
prior to the intended broadcast. I am furthermore astonished by your decision
to remove both of these programs from the broadcast schedule entirely for the
foreseeable future.

As retaliation for your abrupt,
inexcusable and imprudent actions, I am refusing watch your network, including
the Adult Swim block, until such time as Young Justice and Green Lantern have
returned to the broadcast schedule. Additionally, I will refuse to watch any
Turner Broadcasting System stations, including but not limited to, TBS, TNT,
The CW, Turner Classic Movies and CNN. (Yes, I will refuse to watch CNN during
the election season.)

I implore you to return these
programs to your schedule as soon as possible and to make the episodes you
pulled available for viewing either online, or through Comcast’s Xfinity On
Demand service. I have been a loyal viewer of your network for as long as it
has been available to me, over two-thirds of my life, and can scarcely imagine
television without it. Your actions alone have brought about this boycott.

Resentfully, [Name Here]

SNetwerkSHAME

Type your comment here. I remember
when CN launched
20 years ago… they were
dumb asses
then with about 17 hours of “Bugs and
Daffy Tonight” .
– no literally they ran
a block called Bugs and Daffy Tonight” that would
run in 5 hour
blocks – and
then run smurfs
in three hour
blocks and
then popeye… they weren’t
smart then and they ain’t smart now. The worst thing was that they would run MGM Fletcher’s Studios and Famous Studios ( Popeye Cartoons) and Hanna- Barberra Cartoons in the same block as the Warner Bros Shorts because Warner Owned them all. It smacks of the same poor planning and decision making. And this is coming from a mn that used to work for CN in the glory days of Toonami

Thedude124

Smart move cartoon network, and an even better idea to keep the lineup still listed as if its still airing. I’m sure the kids and fans are happy about that.

Convoy

Why does cartoon network do this crap? In Japan, shows run non stop. Then if they reach a point where they catch up to the manga, or if the manga is on hiatus like Naruto was, they’ll put filler episodes in place to keep the momentum going. I’m not saying that they should do the same thing, but there will be like six new episodes of a show, then it’ll go on break for another three months. Then three new episodes, and then more repeats. I don’t understand the logic in any of it.

Lin

Kids WB was crap.

Lin

If this was the reason then why is DCNation the ONLY thing that they messed with on Saturday mornings? The creators of the shows didn’t even know about the hiatus. They had to find out about from the fans! Also Young Justice was JUST on a hiatus, one that started in the 2nd half of June and when it comes back they only show two episodes.

http://twitter.com/Teletran1979 todd e. benoit

bull$h!t

Tornad01

that is another good one that dissapeared………..I mean really who watches Adventure time and that orange show.. why do we get the dumb shows… bring back voltron, thundercats, DC nation….but noooooooooooo we get hours of the same shows that drive me crazy what next they going to by out SPONGE BOB and start airing it 3 hours strait.

Tornad01

very good point and what sucks even more when the shows come ack on and your like me and set DVR’s to recored NEW episodes I am puting money that the first 2 episodes of both shows will be missed as they will show up as already shown….Just a heads up to all DVR people out there. cause when i missed the saturday show though maybe a glitch on the channel so tried to watch SUNDAY and the tv did not show as new but Repeat.

Garycoach35

I was sooooo upset when I DVRd Young Justice and got that dumb how to train your dragon cartoon. Young Justice one of the best animated series since Beast Wars. I need that fix.

Soham

Please will you guys start pokemon back?
I am a very big fan of it and I am very disappointed.
Please see to it.

Jake

DC SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tarra.exe

Teen titan GO! Is a terrible show. Why it was put up I will never understand. I use to love CN now I can’t stand them for what they have done to my favorite shows and the only place I can get them now is either streaming, pirating, or buying them at Walmart IF they have them. Even then it’s almost impossible and they want you to pay so much for them. CN has no idea what they are doing any more and DC Comics and WB need to buy CN and completely revamp it and make it look better. Seriously. Get rid of all these dumbass shows like Regular Show and Uncle Grandpa and so on. Seriously? No…these shows are god awful and need to be put out of their misery.